Simplicity
by FireWolfAbianvi
Summary: What if one of Light's high school classmates and her friend discovered a death note of their own? It would be easy to stop whoever is behind Kira's murders then, right? Only, let's face the reality - things are never that simple. Warning!- OC centred story, no pairings included.
1. Prologue

The library door were suddenly pushed open when a dark blonde girl in a vibrant yellow blouse barged into the room, looking around. When she noticed her friend, an auburn haired short girl, sitting at the desk, reading some book.

Of course, she immediately approached her.

"Hey, Shina, what are you doing?" A girl took a seat next to her friend.

"That's a wonder. You don't even have to study to earn top grades, yet you ask such dumb questions..." Shina rolled her eyes, not even looking up to look at her friend, who leaned back in chair.

" Look, I'm trying to start a conversation here. Am I supposed to hit you in head with that book and explain how ridiculously easy this exercise is in order to make 'intelligent approach'?" A girl laughed.

"I back it up. Continue asking stupid questions. But do it later, please. Tomorrow test will have too big impact on our final grades for me to waste time by not studying." An Auburn haired girl answered in rather serious tone, her gaze confined on the pages of her book.

"C'mon, its ea-"

"No, don't even start with this. You're seriously depressing me. Go have nap or do something you normally do when others actually do the hard work –"

"Hey, no need to be rude! I'm just trying to get you to relax!" – Blonde hushed her friend.

"No time for that"

"That's sad."

"look, if I won't manage to revise this whole metabolism section, I'll be finished!" – Irritation was now hearable in Shina's voice.

"Okay, okay..." Girl rolled her eyes at her hard working friends. She got up and went towards the door.

Just as she was reaching for the door handle, someone opened it from the outside, startling her. Here, in the doorframe stood no one else but Light Yagami, the top student of Daikoku Private Academy, a high school both girls also attended.

"Kikutchi-san" He said, looking at the girl, who right now was doing nothing other than just standing in his way, hand on her chest, like she had just suffered from miniature heart attack.

"uh, sorry, Yagami-san." The girl immediately moved away from boy's path. Of course, no cliché blush involved. She, Kikutchi Tashina, wasn't one of the girls who fawned over the genius boy. Nor did she feel inferior to him. If he was first in school ranking, then she was fifth. Her friend, Shina, was often sixth or seventh, sometimes even fourth, which put her above her careless friend in ranking.

Yet, considering that Tashina was one of the laziest students around, it was still pretty good to be fifth. She was also convinced that she could be first easily if she studied as hard as Yagami boy. She just didn't because... well, what for? It's not like grades are important. Not for her anyway. It was just enough to show off her intelligence on entrance tests to get to the best college around.

So, when Yagami Light passed her, she finally walked out of the library. She trotted down the path, heading to her house, which luckily wasn't far away.

What she didn't expect on the way, was a notebook laying on the pavement. And since she haven't expected it, she didn't notice it, and slipped on it while running.

Such silly thing made her fall down on the pavement. She wasn't a type of person who throws vulgarisms around, but she did cursed in her mind, before she got up with a groan. Nothing serious happened, luckily. She just gained few abrasions on the inside side of palms and on the elbows. They were bleeding slightly, but...

"oh well, it's not the end of the world" she mumbled under her breath. Tripping over something wasn't that unusual for her, especially since she preferred running around than walking like a proper serious student would.

She glanced down at the object that was at fault of her fall.

"A notebook?" She bent down to pick the object up. It was black, with a title "Death Note" written on its cover. Kinda creepy – she thought.

Yet, on the inside of the cover, there was no name or address written. It was, for her perception, a completely normal, blank notebook. It would be a waste to leave it there. She could always use it to satisfy her doodling addiction.

So, she put it in her handbag, not even bothering to check out the few black pages right before the back cover.

...

Later that day, Toshina was lying on her bed, in her room, with the mysterious notebook still hidden in her bag. She wasn't in a mood for drawing at that moment. Out of sheer boredom she turned on the TV. The afternoon news weren't unusual at all. Just some reports of latest crimes, and then some more reports about some criminals dying from heart attacks. The first part was a typical part of news since ages, the second topic, though it began quite recently, was also becoming part of routine now.

Police was still describing it as mysterious series of heart attacks, but people in school already gave this occurrence a name. As if there were some divine being behind it.

While she never really believed it – she was more likely to say that it was a plot of some big organization working above the government – she hasn't denied the possibility entirely. It was quite strange. Each time a criminal was shown on news with his identity revealed, on the next edition of news he was reported dead.

Maybe they're not even dying? – she thought. Maybe it's just Japanese government manipulating the media to report deaths of the most notorious criminals in order to scare people who were thinking about committing crimes? One thing she was sure – the whole "intimidation" thing worked, whoever was behind this.

She yawned and eventually got up from her bed. She reached out for her bag and placed it on the covers of bed. Then, she took out the notebook and, from the lack of better occupation, started to study it closely.

Then she noticed the black pages. There was a text on them, written, not printed. But the style was weird. Overly ornamental and creepy. It read:

The human whose name is written in this note shall die.

~This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.

~If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen.

~If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.

~After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

~This note shall become the property of the human world, once it touches the ground of (arrives in) the human world.

~The owner of the note can recognize the image and voice of its original owner, i.e. a god of death.

~The human who uses this note can neither go to Heaven nor Hell.

~If the time of death is written within 40 seconds after writing the cause of death as a heart attack, the time of death can be manipulated, and the time can go into effect within 40 seconds after writing the name.

~The human who touches the Death Note can recognize the image and voice of its original owner, a god of death, even if the human is not the owner of the note.

~The person in possession of the Death Note is possessed by a god of death, its original owner, until they die.

~If a human uses the note, a god of death usually appears in front of him/her within 39 days after he/she uses the note.

"what?" She questioned out loud what she had just read. These rules... they seemed awfully similar to certain series of deaths that recently dominated the afternoon news. But there's no way someone could die from having their name written in the notebook. This has to be an elaborate joke based on some crazy theories about this "Kira" guy everybody believed in.

This couldn't be real... could it?

 **A/N: Hello, readers. Here is my new story. Few people who were following me as an author sure are wondering why I deleted my old OC story, but you know what it's like. You look at your works from years later and you're not even able to read your own story because it's so silly, and not even in funny way.**

 **I hope my English has improved since these few years in the past, but if you see a mistake, don't hesitate to point it out, preferably along with explaining how it should be written correctly.**

 **I'm looking for a Beta Reader!**

 **Also, it would be nice to receive some feedback in forms of reviews or at least follows. Because if nobody is interested in the story, what's the point of uploading it further?**


	2. Dilemmas

For what seemed like ages... or more likely fifteen minutes Tashina stared at the notebook , tapping fingers on her knee. This little movement was the only indication of the rush of thoughts that was running through her head at the moment.

The idea seemed ridiculous. It defied every law of the reality for a notebook to be able to kill. But then, she wasn't an atheist, and just like she always had this gut feeling about the presence of a higher being that created the world and is watching over it, the thought of the possibility of such supernatural occurrence as a killer notebook was drilling deeper and deeper into her mind.

And yet, her perception of god would stay somewhat safe if the thing was real. After all, wouldn't it mean that this person, or people who are behind the deaths of criminals were just... human? If a normal person could stumble, more or less literally, upon such powerful artifact... then it was no divine judgment.

Yet still, this could as well be a joke and she was just naive.

If there was just a way to prove it... but wouldn't that require attempting to kill somebody? And that was just plain wrong... not like anybody would know, but would she be able to live with herself if this thing proved real?

Yet... how many possibilities would that open?

It seemed like she wasn't destined to finish this internal debate, since her mother just came back from work. Of course the first thing her mom does every time when returning home is to call her. This time was no different.

Knowing of mom's poor patience, Tashina forgot her thoughts, jumped out of the bed and threw the spooky notebook to the side. She basically ran out of the room and down the stairs.

Her mother stood in the doorway, carrying two heavy bags full of groceries. Girl took both bags, and carried them to kitchen, allowing mom to take the coat and shoes off.

"thank you" said her mother. Her face was pale and she looked quite worn out. It was plain how hard she worked, though she never told her daughter what precisely was she doing. Tashina didn't inquire either. Since her father, an American businessman, abandoned their family to move away with his new love interest, every money they could earn was important... no matter how it was earned. Tashina wouldn't suspect her mother of anything illegal anyway. In opposite, teen girl's mother respected the law, according to the girl herself, beyond the common sense.

But suppose this Kira is real, and suddenly the common sense wouldn't shut up about obeying the law to the last paragraph.

When mother followed Tashina to the kitchen, a tired sigh escaped her mouth.

"Didn't I told you to wash the dishes, Tash?" She asked sternly. The girl lowered her head apologetically.

"I... I barely got there..."

"By your schedule you could have been here half an hour ago, that would make enough time for you to do your chore. Don't you understand? I love you, but we can't make it if you won't help me at home!"

 _Yeah. Half an hour would be enough if I didn't waste it on staring at the notebook... ~ a_ girl thought, a bit ashamed of herself. It was true... this stupid thing made her forget promise made to her mother... and it was too silly of an excuse to even consider. Distracted by a notebook.

"Sorry, mom... I'll do it now." Tashina said, looking down, then walking towards the sink. Shame she didn't have a dishwasher.

Another sigh could be heard coming from her mother, who started to prepare a simple meal.

-...-

Roughly half an hour later dishwashing was done, and Tashina wanted nothing more than to stretch on her bed and take a nap. Theoretically she should prepare for cram school, but she really didn't feel like going there. Mom wouldn't blame her either, since right now, she was asleep.

But life couldn't possibly be that beautiful, right?

The annoying sound of a ringing phone spread through the room, making Tashina pounce towards it. There shall be no way of her skipping cram school if her mother would wake up.

She answered the phone as soon as she got her hands on it. It was Shina calling.

"Hey... you do have a really bad timing, you know? My mom's asleep."

"Well, I couldn't know, now, can I ask you for a favor?"

"Oh. I was just about to take a nap, but I guess... ask away"

"I really need you to actually go to the cram school today and take notes for me. There's no way I'll make it if I'm to finish this chapter before the class test tomorrow, but cram school stuff is very important too... just for later."

Tashina wasn't particularly thrilled to hear that, but she had hard time refusing to help her busy friend, even though she doubted all these favors would be ever returned. In fact, she didn't care at all, since she hardly needed Shina's help in anything beside more advanced math, and explaining few exercises wasn't a bother to Shina, compared to her requests...

And girl's mother woke up anyway. She could hear her footsteps in other room.

"Okay then... I'll try not to fall asleep"

"You better try hard. And please, write readable way."

"okay, okay... I'll try!"

"Hahahaha... thanks, I owe you one!" Shina cancelled the call, leaving Tashina with the necessity of leaving for the cram school. Well, not a necessity, but I guess it's understandable. Everybody can fail the expectations of parents sometimes, but dissapointing a friend? At least for Tash, it was much harder to take, since mom always forgives, and Shina do not. Especially if it would affect her education.

"Who called?" her mom asked from the kitchen.

"Just Shina. I'm packing up for the cram school!"

"Okay! Take care when coming back"

And so much for her rest. She really had to pack up and leave home. And the couch. At the moment, the mysterious notebook she found earlier was lost again in the depths of her memory.

-...-

If the walk towards the cram school was peaceful, the start of the lesson couldn't be. This student, Ryo, who always sat close to the desk she and Shina usually occupied, seemed particularly restless today. He was pacing back and forth before they entered the class and when everybody entered, he sat beside Tash. A girl gave him an apathetic glance, not being entirely pleased, not upset either.

"You're Shina-san's friend, right?" He asked, his voice trembling. This kid sure was shy. No wonder, since he and Tash never really talked. The only reason he sat around was because Shina was easily ticked off by classroom bullies and always lashed out at Sudou and his gang if they attempted to bully Ryo in her sight. And should I mention that Shina was rather a respected person, in difference to Tash, who was, due to her nature, more like ignored, or overlooked by both bullies and the elite.

"Yes. Why you ask?"

"Why isn't she here yet? Something happened?"

"She won't be here today. She's studying... something else. And to be honest, that's the only reason I'm here right now."

"Oh..."

And that would be it for this conversation, because the teacher hushed the class and started his lecture. For once Tashina noted every word carefully.

By the end of the class her wrist was hurting badly, unused to such intense 'exercise'. That could be it for this day.

Only there yet were other things to come. The moment teacher left the room, Sudou and his gang got up from their seats and approached Ryo

"Hey, buddy, wouldn't you wanna lend me some yen?" Sudou asked.

Ryo looked distressed and gave Tashina a quick glance. Girl narrowed her eyes. These guys were annoying, though she wouldn't say she hated them for what they're doing, she didn't like them either. They didn't need that money for sure.

"But Sudou... I..."

"Come on, I know you have money, won't you help us out, Ryo?"

"Hey, leave it, guys. You don't wanna be on a bad guys list with Kira around, do you?" Tash spoke, with a hint of irony in her voice, without rising her gaze from closed notebook. Maybe if she did, she'd notice that her statement not only bought her the attention of the gang. Light Yagami, seated few desks away turned his gaze in her general direction.

Unluckily, he was far from willing to interfere now... after all, It's not top student's occupation to pick up silly fights.

"You threatening us?" Sudou glared at the girl, who, even though she tried to not give it away, felt a bit intimidated. If they got physical, it'd be hardly possible for her to get away unharmed. Darn the pity that forced her to interfere... It's not like she even believed in Kira, it just seemed like a good one to say now. Apparently not.

"No, I'd rather call it a bit of suggestion" Tashina's voice was nothing but polite. Because what kind of threat was that? If this Kira really were real, he probably didn't give a damn about high school bullies, neither could he possibly know of their existence in this particular place, since he was most probably human. Unless he was in the class, but let's face it – that's so not probable. Out of billions of people?

Sudou laughed

"Oh, but we ain't doin' any crime, just asking my buddy to lend me money, that's not weird, is it?"

"Just thinking, maybe you should quit parasitic lifestyle? You know, it almost broke my friendship in the past"

"I don't think it'll be as bad. So, how about it, Ryo"

"I don't have that much money today"

"Just leave him alone!" Tashina was as surprised as Sudou when she raised her voice

"you should really mind your business, Tashina-san" boy narrowed his eyes.

 _Oops... ~_ girl thought. Now she was too deep in this mess.

"And I think you should take Kikutchi-san's advice, Sudou-san." Everybody suddenly turned their heads towards the one who spoke. Light Yagami.

Sudou looked away embarrased. Gotta love the effect those 'respected' people have on everybody.

"If you say you don't have money... fine, I guess." The gang leader shot Ryo an angry glance when leaving, his gangmates followed.

"Thank you so much Yagami-san!" Ryo was really happy about the unexpected help. Meanwhile, Tashina just nodded at Light with kind smile on her mouth. Light also nodded, then picked up his bag from the ground and headed towards the exit door.

"Thank you too, Kikutchi-san" Ryo said when she began to pack up her notebooks. They both knew that Light wouldn't get involved if she didn't escalate the conflict to right point... and Ryo wouldn't escalate it himself, without any allies he'd most probably just give them money they wanted.

"No problem" girl said, even though she did consider that a nuisance. If it wasn't for Light, things could get ugly. And to be honest, she interfered only because that's what Shina would want to be done. Tash herself wasn't half as fierce in executing social justice. Fighting wasn't her thing.

-...-

When she finally got home after school, her Mother was asleep again, so she snuck into her own room and threw herself on the bed, not even taking the regular clothes off. She drifted off to sleep as soon as her head touched the pillow...

Only to be woken up half an hour later by her mother banging on the door to her room.

"Tashina! Your friend came over! Come down here!" Her mother called.

A quick sigh escaped Tashina's mouth, but eventually she got up and came to greet her friend.

Because, of course, Shina would want her notes back.

"Hey! What? Were you sleeping? You sure you aren't sick or something?" Shina laughed, standing in the hallway.

"Yaaaaawn... no, I'm just lazy like that... really could use a nap now!" For a moment it was hard to tell if Tash was yawning or laughing. Most probably both at one time.

"Come on, notes are in my room." Tashina said, leading the way.

When they entered the room Tash reached for her schoolbag, meanwhile Shina picked up a notebook which was laying on the floor.

"Death note? I didn't knew you were into this kind of stuff" Shina said, catching her friend's attention.

"Oh, that... found it on a walkway today. I'm not into the creepy stuff, but It'd be a shame to let a perfectly good notebook waste..." Tash was talking while rummaging through her bag in a search for cram school notes.

"It has these weird rules of use though... something like a chain letter. Good thing it doesn't say to reproduce it in ten copies... o, there is it!" Girl triumphantly took the cram school notebook out and handed it to Shina.

"It seem pretty elaborate for a joke... thanks... hey, have you tried it?" Tashina's friend took the notes, but still seemed very interested in so called 'Death Note'

"Of course not, you kidding? What if it worked?"

"You seriously believe it could"

"Ain't taking any chances" Tashina laughed.

"Besides, I really don't have anyone in mind who I'd want to kill."

"Sudou maybe... he didn't give you any trouble today?"

"Nah, he's annoying, but if being annoying was worthy of death penalty, I'd be afraid too!" Tash joked

Shina couldn't hold back the laugher.

"Sad but true!" she said through the wave of giggles.

"He bothered Ryo again, but... you should have seen his face as Light Yagami approached! He had never left so quickly before!" Tashina also started giggling, leaning back in her chair.

"Seriously? The Light Yagami, took his attention off his famous window? Hahaha... okay, let's be serious... haha... So what are those rules..." Shina glued her eyes to the black 'instruction' pages of the note

"Oh, yea, they are awfully similiar to..."

"This Kira thing!" Shina suddenly exclaimed, cutting her friend's sentence short.

"Tash, if this was real, you know what this could mean?"

"That this Kira is not government trick nor a divine being, but just some self righteous dude who accidentally found a notebook of death?"

"exactly! Though I'd phrase it a little different... but if we brought it to the police..."

"They would laugh in our faces. Besides, we don't really know if it works. Maybe it is a joke inspired by Kira's murders?"

"true... and do we even want Kira to get caught?"

"I do. But I'm totally not testing this thing." Said Tash. For some reason, in all her indifference, she found the thought of killing somebody by her own hands deeply repulsing

"In the end you gotta admit, He's doing some good for society" Shina pointed out.

"For now. But we all know that humans tend to get bratty if they are given too much power to use for whatever purpose"

"So you think he just want to rule the world?"

"And tries to lure us into believing he's the good guy. Assuming there is such a person."

"But... we won't know until we try it."

"And maybe we will? Take a look at the last rule."

"A shinigami might appear? You believe in shinigamis?"

"Not more than in killer notebooks. But if it really appears, we know it's a real thing."

Shina nodded in agreement. At least they won't have to kill anybody to prove this notebook real.

"So, for now, we just have to wait. You going or would you rather stay for a while?" Tashina asked while glancing at the window. It just started to rain outside.

"I'll stay. Let's get the TV running. Maybe we'll catch some information about this Kira guy..."

"Already playing detective? Fine by me!" A light click followed Tashina's words as she pressed the 'on' button on remote control.

The channel that started playing got interrupted mere seconds after TV was turned on.

" _We'd like to apologize for the interruption, as for now we'll bring you a live worldwide broadcast from the ICPO, Interpol. It looks like they're ready to begin:"_

"oh. That's interesting..." Tashina mumbled under her breath.

Screen suddenly changed to a black haired man on a stage, with his name written before him. Lind L. Tailor... who?

" _I'm the only person who can control the entire world's police forces" – Lind L. Tailor said_

" _Lind L. Tailor. I go by the code name: L. This successive murdering of criminals is unforgivable and must not go unpunished. I guarantee I will find the ring leader or 'Kira'._

 _Kira, I can guess what your motivation might be, but what you're doing... is evil!"_

Both friends had their eyes glued to the screen through the whole speech, but it seemed to have ended by now. And yet, the screen wasn't changing.

"Does they have anything else?" Tash wondered out loud.

"That's one long suspense building pause..." Shina commented. They both had similar thoughts – that the broadcast, to the present point, was all petty unimportant talk. What was a point of even broadcasting some guy who just wanted to state his early promises?

"Yeah... suspense building... maybe TV failed..." Tash pondered, but when she reached towards the remote control to attempt turning it off, suddenly, the man on the screen caught his chest, as if experiencing heart attack.

Remote control dropped from Tashina's hand.

"Oh." Both girls gasped almost simultaneously.

Man in TV fallen at his stage and stopped moving.

"Is he dead?"

"This can't be a coincidence..." Shina mumbled. Now that made sense, It's like guy was provoking Kira.

"This wasn't real detective, right? " Tashina asked. This looked too much like a set-up made by the police to annoy Kira, and consequently prove his existence.

Suddenly screen changed again, now featuring only capital 'L' in fancy font.

" _I can't believe it!"_ raspy, robotic voice began talking

" _I tested it just in case, but I never thought it could actually be true... Kira! It seems you can kill people without having to be there in person!"_

"Point for the notebook" Shina said.

"Shh... listen!"

" _I wouldn't have been able to believe this if I haven't just witnessed it! Listen closely, Kira. If you did indeed kill the Lind L. Tailor on the screen, I can tell you that he was in fact a criminal that was due to be put to death today. That wasn't me. He was a criminal that was captured by the police in absolute secrecy. You wouldn't have heard of him on the news or through the internet. Looks like not even you have information on this kind of killer._

 _But as for L, he certainly does exist, as my own persona. Now try and Kill me!"_

"Is this L mad, or suicudal?"

"Very self confident, for sure" Tash answered.

" _Go on then! Hurry up! Kill me! What's wrong? Kill me! Go on! Kill me! What's the matter? Can't you do it? So, it seems like you can't kill me. Apparently, there are certain people you can't kill. Thanks for the hint. As a reward, I'll tell you one more thing. We lied about this being a worldwide broadcast. This announcement is currently only broadcasted across the Kanto region of Japan._

 _We were planning to broadcast it at different times across different regions, but it seems there is no longer a need for this. I know you're in Kanto. Your first killing was overlooked by the police as it was such a small incident. However, your first victim was in fact the phantom killer in Shinjuku. Whilst the other high profile criminals were dying of heart attacks, this stuck out as being quite a heavy punishment for a relatively low-profile crime. In addition, this incident was only reported within Japan. Just those pieces of information were enough for me to figure it out._

 _It means that you're in Japan, and that criminal was your first experiment. Due to its large population this announcement was first broadcasted in the Kanto region. And what a lack? We found you!"_

"Kira got to be pretty pissed right now..." Tash noted

" _To be honest I'd never thought it would go this smoothly. Kira, it seems like it won't be too long before I can sentence you to death. Kira. I'm curious to know what are your true motives behind this, but I guess that can wait until I've caught you. Let's meet again soon, Kira._

Now screen went grey.

"Okay... that's a heck lot of information for one broadcast." Said Shina.

"I don't like this guy already" Tashina mumbled and raised from her seat, just to lay herself on the bed moments later.

"Why? Or maybe you are secretly Kira?"

"Yep. And I killed him telepathically, because you're holding the notebook" Tash found it hard not to laugh at Shina's joke.

"Just this death penalty thing doesn't sit right with me. And you heard, he was practically bragging about how smart his conclusions are... not really the kind of person I'd like" she added.

"I guess you're right... he might be a dangerous person, basically throwing a death threat on Kira before it is even possible to make a trial..." Shina agreed, but wondered...

"But then, for such enormous crime, what would be a proper punishment if not death sentence?" Tashina's friend asked, shrugging.

"That's a good one, Shina. Good one to think about..." Tash sighed when finishing this sentence.


	3. Revelations

Some time passed since Tashina discovered the notebook and shared the knowledge with her friend, and their lives continued as they were before. School, cram school, occasionally skipped in Tash's case, house tasks.

Lives of teenage girls became gradually busier as the end of their last academic year of high school approached and while they waited for a proof of the mysterious notebook, namely a real-life shinigami, to show himself, they didn't pay much attention to the escalating Kira situation. In fact, both friends seemed conscious that if the notebook isn't real, there is no real way for them to affect the case even if they wanted too. They were smart, sure, but so was a bunch of other people. In the end, the only kind of attention the "death note" got from Tash, who kept it, was making sure not to write in it.

Until one evening, when Tashina was sitting on her bed, with ears plugged with earphones, nodding to the rhythm, her eyes half closed. That is, until loud thud sounded in the room, a sound impossible for music to silence out

Girl immediately faced the direction from where the noise come and opened her mouth, dumbfounded. Right in front of the window in her room, there was a round monolith-shaped stone, covered in eyes of various sizes.

Tashina's voice got stuck in her throat. She just stared at the "thing."

And suddenly the "thing" spoke.

"I believe you have my notebook. I came to retrieve it." Creature's voice was surprisingly... polite. And feminine

"oh" Tashina only gasped, then reached for a notebook which was in her bag.

"You mean the Death Note... you are a shinigami, right?" Girl continued. While she was speaking, the shinigami's multiple eyes narrowed slightly

"That is correct, I am what you human beings call shinigami. And this notebook belonged to me. My name is Nu. I must also ask you to speak quieter. I find your voice annoying."

Tash lowered her head apologetically, and said, now in quieter tone.

"I'm sorry. My name is-"

"Kikutchi Tashina. I know. Now you should disclaim the notebook and give it back to me." Nu said, cutting girl's introduction short.

"Can't you... just take it?" Tash did her best to keep her voice down. To be honest, it worked for her advantage as well, if by a chance her mom wasn't deeply asking, talking loudly would surely attract her to come here and check on her.

"The moment the notebook touched the ground in this world, it became part of it, and you, by picking it up, claimed ownership of it. Had you not touched it, you wouldn't be able to see me or sense my presence in anyway. In the law of shinigami, unfortunately, you are the rightful owner now, until you give it up. I can't just take it if you won't consciously give up the ownership. Then I'll wipe out all your memories concerning the notebook and shinigami, as well as memories of all humans who came in contact with it." Shinigami explained in quite lengthy monologue, which gave Tash a funny idea, that this shinigami must like listening to her own voice, though she seemed to dislike it when the girl was speaking.

"Soo... that means it's mine. And you cannot take it until I decide to give it up. I would give it back to you... but I'd really wish to keep memories of it. Especially now. Is this person who people are calling Kira also an owner of your notebook?"

"Keeping your memories after you give up ownership is also against the rules. And no. The human who is using another notebook beyond any reason is haunted by a different shinigami. Each of us is permitted to own only one notebook. This is the reason why you should give it back to me."

"And what would happen if I would decide to not give it up? Would you kill me?" Tashina asked quietly, but also curiously. To be perfectly honest, this shinigami weirded her out, but did not terrify her. It was pretty bizarre in its form, or hers? The creature, judging by voice, appeared female. She expected such creature to look more... associated with death? Some kind of reaper or skeleton. Nu's appearance and polite, though kind of dominant attitude made a conversation between them a little more natural.

Girl didn't really feel like speaking to a personification of death.

"Had I had another notebook, I could. But then it wouldn't have much sense, there are younger people than you with more years of lifespan to extract, and I wouldn't need the second notebook if I had two. For now, it isn't possible for me to kill you directly through notebook, and the rules forbid me from influencing your lifespan in different way, as much as I would want to. It would be perfectly logical for you to give the notebook up, since I observed that you aren't willing to use it."

Nu's voice became somewhat ominous.

"So, you're telling me that technically, you can do nothing to me, without breaking your shinigami rules" Tash forgot herself and asked in louder and bolder voice

"Technically, you are correct. Keep your voice down please"

"Sorry. And you need it for... you said... "extracting lifespans"?" Girl asked, being quiet again.

"We shinigami extend our lifespans by writing in these notebooks and extracting years of lifespan from humans. Do not get false impression though, notebook doesn't work the same way when human is writing names. Then the lifespan goes to waste."

"How did you lost it then? It is important for you, apparently." Girl inquired in hushed tone.

"I was searching for a human with possibly most years of remaining lifespan to kill while looking through a portal to human work. And then one of those low-rank shinigami decided to disturb me with his hideously loud voice, which made me accidentally drop the notebook. Apparently the other human who taken this other shinigami's notebook was so interesting." This time there was blunt annoyance in the voice of Nu.

"Well, I can't give it back to you right now." Tashina said, rather boldly, though not really vigorously.

"You don't need it. I do." Shinigami stated.

"You're right, I don't need the notebook, but I need memories of it... If I am to stop this second dude who found it. "

"Why would you endanger yourself by attempting that?" Nu inquired, without bigger hint of curiosity in her voice. She sounded rather like she was considering girl's idea to be dumb to the core.

"Assuming I would trust you to not take my life after I give it back to you, which I kinda do, you seem bluntly honest, I still guess value of human life is not great for you... but it is to me, after all, I'm a human. And not only my life is important to me. Not only life itself, but also the quality of life. Living under the rule of this person who claimed other notebook would be... uncomfortable for me. For many." Girl explained her reasons, as well as she could, considering that her trail of thought was a little upset by the presence of Nu.

"Quality of life you say..." Nu pronounced the first word in the sentence quite strangely

"Yes, I guess, since our lifespans are probably short compared to the age of a shinigami who can prolong their lives, we have to make the best of it when we can. And this guy... he's probably out for power and if somebody won't stop him, he'll just end up oppressing us." Tash said, directing her gaze towards the side window.

"Matters of your world are none of my concern. The second notebook, as well as mine, shouldn't even appear in this world. But of course some low-rank shinigami felt it would be funny to drop it on purpose." Nu said with badly hidden disdain for this second shinigami in her voice, narrowing all of her eyes.

Girl shook her head. Not of her concern? If she was such high positioned shinigami in her own world, and it looked like it judging by her manner of speaking, then wasn't she responsible for upholding these "rules" she was talking about?

"Well, I guess if the other shinigami is messing with our world, then I have perfectly valid reason to use resource of your world to fight it." Girl wasn't upset... yet. You could say she was irritated with shinigami's attitude, and, feeling a little braver when knowing that shinigami shouldn't really hurt her without the note, she decided to not back down.

"Whatever impression you've got, I am not responsible for any other shinigami. It would be best for you to give up the notebook. It has been known to only bring misfortune to human beings who own it."

"Then I'll dare to face it. To the point, I considered myself a lucky person, you know? Maybe the bad luck will be cancelled out?"

"It is plain to me that you have no idea how this works." Nu stated.

"Maybe you're right... still... I can't give it back to you. Not now." Tashina sighed and stood up. She approached her desk and picked up the phone, dialing Shina's number.

"Shina... you need to see this.."

-...-

What the Shinigami, Nu, wouldn't admit, was that she was quite desperate to write another name in the notebook. Like most of other shinigami, she wrote names only when she needed more lifespan. She wasn't planning to drop the notebook, and now she felt like she should have just killed the first person she seen through the portal, to grant herself at least few years to search for a human with fine length of remaining lifespan left. And now, how she was? A few weeks away from dying, with this dumb human kid refusing to give up the notebook. Never had she thought that She, the second most powerful Shinigami, would have to die for such stupid reason like dropping the notebook.

All because she had to grow these fragile tiny arms to write, when other shinigamis only grew wings when they needed.

But she wouldn't let the human kid know of her desperation. She didn't need this inferior being to feel any kind of power over her.

On the other kind, Tashina already felt as if she was on a higher position than the shinigami, since Nu couldn't harm her in any direct way. And she wasn't stupid. She noticed that the shinigami is acting like she needed death note here and now, and it wasn't probably caused by Nu's impatience.

Girl waited for her friend to come, in relative silence, since that shinigami hushed her way too much

Finally a doorbell rang. Tash ran downstairs to open the door, previously ordering shinigami not to follow her, though Nu disregarded the order, making teenage girl aware that no one who didn't touch the notebook would be able to see her.

When Shina entered hallway, she froze.

"What. Is. That?" She asked right away, before Tash hushed her,

"Maybe... we'll better go for a walk?" Tashina said, quickly putting on her shoes and then dragging Shina out of the house. Nu of course followed.

-...-

"So this notebook is a real thing... to be honest I expected a shinigami to look a little... different?" Shina commented.

"In fact most Shinigami do look similiar to what you humans would expect, there aren't many like me." Nu said, levitating behind girls who walked down the path near a narrow road. Sky was starting to get dark above them.

"Then now... I guess we can find this "Kira" before police can." Tash proposed.

"But how? For all we know he's in Kanto, so, somewhere here. But that we know from L. There are thousands of people in here."

"Don't be so pessimistic, Shina, it might be simplier than we think. We just have to use our brains. Maybe we shouldn't focus on who might be Kira, but who couldn't be. This Kira person is kinda Idealistic... at least yet. Someone who would want to take control just for the sake of it, would start killing off the government first."

"If so, he probably isn't very old. Usually older people are at peace with the way world is and would use such power for personal gain, or at least gain of their family and friends. I guess from his lack of sympathy towards financial criminals that he isn't a shady character or a high class businessmen either" Shina noticed.

"I'd give him not more than thirty years old... he also got to have lived a peaceful life to this point. I mean, his first victim, as this L said, was a fresh criminal. The motive for this killing rather didn't have much to do with revenge. It would seem as the murder was committed under an impulse, to prevent hostages from getting harmed." Tash mumbled under her breath, loudly enough for her friend to hear.

"But doesn't it mean that he cares for people? You sure there is a need to stop him? I mean, what if he won't get corrupted by the power? World could be a safer place this way."

"He already began getting corrupted. For what we know now he's an ordinary human. He couldn't have known L's impostor on TV was a criminal. He must have believed that he is a detective, and still killed him because... apparently he couldn't take criticism. Besides, we're not trying to catch him first just to turn him to the police. You remember what I told you? Shinigami's have the power to erase the memories connected with a notebook. We could save him from the death sentence awaiting him." Tash explained. On the way, she kicked a random stone into someone's garden.

"Without consequences, like that?"

"Yeah. Kira would disappear, case will meet its dead end, and dude's friends and family will continue their lives normally. Dude won't remember a thing about having such power and committing these murders, so It won't hinder his psyche. If every resocialization would be that simple, we wouldn't need prisons."

"And what about the families of the victims? Don't they deserve justice?"

"Tell me Shina, have you ever been on a real trial? It's nothing about justice. It is just people whining and trying to push the blame on someone else. And the judge... the lawyers. These people don't have any sympathy, even for the obvious victim. They doesn't care why things happened as they happened. That is, unless they are new to the work. It is hard for a lawyer or judge to have any consideration for human feelings and truth, if they wouldn't force themselves to see the situations as just "paragraphs" they would go insane quickly."

"And you've been at the trial..."

"Yes... three cases, lost count of how many trials. You know, there was more trouble to my parents' divorce, than the divorce itself. Dad did some illegal things too, hurting me and my mother in process... but somehow, I can't bring myself to hate him. Trials still deemed him innocent due to lack of evidence and Mom wanted to put charges against him again, but it wasn't worth it."

"You never told me?"

"That's nothing important right now. Sometimes, past is better left in the past. We're doing quite fine with my Mom. The point is, Justice as we know it, is, according to me, quite pathetic. And not because it's not effective. Because angry people think they'll feel better if a person who made them suffer will suffer too. But they won't. Revenge is never a good way. It just drags good people down to the level of their oppressors. " Tashina said, raising her gaze into the sky, taking a deep breath before continuing her little speech.

"In the end, if this attitude of people is to ever change, there got to be this one fool who will forgive the worst instead of taking revenge. Just to show other people that it's possible."

"Wow, Tash... that was deep. But anger is a powerful emotion, you know. It won't be that easy to get people to just forgive."

"Maybe someday they'll understand on their own. But for that, Kira must be stopped. And not killed, because that would be a hypocrisy of the century." Tash sighed.

"Sooo... a young person, not older than thirty, in Kanto, Idealistic, smart, probably... do you notice how these details dangerously narrow the suspects down to us and people in our surroundings? And even more when we'll go to the university? We'll have to watch out for police too, because as you said, they may be just seeking for the guilty. So many weeks and their superiors must yell at them for incompetence."

"And we do not have all these data bases to narrow the list down any further... so we can hardly find a person so probable to be Kira that approaching him or her with this wouldn't end up with us turned to the police... but..."

"But what?" Shina inquired.

"I know! We have to make Kira notice us... and, for our safety, we need not to appear as if we're pursuers or enemies. We can't find Kira, but Kira can find us. No... one of us. It will be safer if only I will get exposed like that. Then if Kira would appear willing to kill me, then i could make a threat that if I'll die, my accomplice will kill him, and because you will act clueless, he won't suspect you, and won't kill you."

"Well, acting clueless in company of this... no offence" Shina pointed at Nu "would be rather hard"

"This" have a name" Nu interfered, apparently feeling offended

"Oh, Shina, just act natural, be busy studying, make comments about me doodling over another new notebook... things like that, which would give an impression of 'I don't have an idea that the thing can kill people'".

"I guess I can do that."

"Now... do you still have this belt with a pocket for a book?"

"Sure."

-...-

Another day, two friends came to the school together, but on the breaks between classes, they separated, as usually. Tashina doing a millionth patrol through all hallways in the school just for the sake of walking, and Shina studied while sitting beside door of the classroom. The only difference was that Tash was wearing a belt with a transparent pocket attached to it, and in the pocket there was a death note.

She managed to convince Nu to stay at home or somewhere before they approached the school , since the shinigami greatly disliked intense noise, and school was full of it.

She didn't expect Kira to tap her on a shoulder right away – this would be much more probable when they got into To-oh university, and she was patient. Yet, she managed to notice something strange.

This adult man in formal suit, who for sure wasn't a teacher, was staying suspiciously close to where her classmates waited for next class, and appeared as if he didn't want to be seen by them. Yet, he was observing.

On the last break on the schedule she paid closer attention to him, and to her relief, he didn't seem to follow her or Shina. He was observing the group of boys. Only what for? And who he is?

One way to find out. Even if it was particularly stupid way.

She approached the man, who was too concentrated on observing the male herd of her class to notice her and tapped on his shoulder.

The man jumped and turned his eyes to her, looking quite nervous and shivery

"Sorry, mister, I didn't mean to surprise you, but the way Mister is following my classmates is kind of... creepy. Please, stop doing that, or I'll inform teachers. "

Man calmed down and scratched the back of his head.

"Sorry, miss. I'm afraid I can't tell you why I'm here, but it's official matter. Your classmates are in no danger"

"So... who you are? You aren't a cop, are you? Did something happened at school?" She was genuinely curious.

"Ah... I see I'll have no choice but to tell you. I'm an FBI agent, I'm on a secret operation which Japanese police can't know about so, please, do not call the security. " Man felt that since the girl wasn't even on the list of suspects, it couldn't possibly do more harm to tell her than it would do to tell it to the security guards.

"Woah, FBI? That's cool... but, unbelievable. Aren't there better excuses to spy on teens?"

"No, no, I'm telling the truth. Here is my ID" he handed her out a card of FBI ID. Tash narrowed her eyes, staring suspiciously at the agent.

"Okay, I believe you, but seriously, what happened that FBI is spying in this school?" She could guess, but she could hardly believe her own thoughts. Was that even possible than out of all schools and universities in kanto this one could hold Kira? The thought itself was surreal to her, even if she went on a quest to find him.

Maybe it felt that way because beside of ordinary family grief nothing particularly exciting , adventurous or extraordinary ever happened in her life. But now, it seemed, world wasn't going to exclude her from all the important stuff that happens.

"Listen girl, what is it in top secret that you think I can tell you?" Agent, namely, Raye Penber, let out irritated sigh, then held some device up to his face.

"I'm leaving, I have been noticed." He said then turned his gaze to the girl.

"Believe, young lady, these are matters you do not want yourself involved in." then he turned around to leave, only to have Tashina tugging a corner of his trenchcoat.

"If what you're investigating is Kira then please, don't give out your ID just because somebody doesn't trust you... life's more important than reputation, right?" She smiled kindly at the agent.

"How you..."

"This school is full of smart kids. Doesn't take a detective to know someone of our age group could be suspected. And, I'm not skipping that much classes to not know if something else had happened to attract FBI." She laughed a little in the end.

"Okay... I'll keep that in mind." Raye said and walked away in hurry.

-...-

Last class passed without any further suspicious events, Light taking occasional glances at Tashina with the notebook on her sight didn't count. In fact, he tried his best to keep his eyes elsewhere. He knew that she knew, and if she knew, then showing her any sign of attention in public place would be like handing her a knife to cut his throat. That is, if she wanted to.

He had to admit that he didn't know much about her attitude, aside of the fact that she was more of the type to get out of the way than fight when in tense situations. Until few weeks ago, when she attempted, at least, to help Ryo with bullies. But she was bad at this. Had he not interfered, she could have been hurt by them.

She couldn't be that much of a danger. If he confronted her all alone, he could win the battle with charisma alone, which would be better, since killing people in his surroundings couldn't possibly work in his favour. If he only knew what was her opinion on Kira. Maybe she would be an ally? But she didn't look like person who have guts to kill someone. Too much of a coward, even if she had a bunch of neglected potential, intelligence-wise.

Yes, he thought, it'll be better to keep her in check, and ensure that as quickly as possible. She's plainly looking for Kira's attention, and that might in worst case lead to Police catching her and discovering the note... since, if she didn't turn it over to police already, then she wasn't going to... right?

He hoped so.

Then again, it wouldn't be so hard to catch her alone... she had a tendency to wander around when her only friend here was busy. He didn't even had her phone number, and that would be the only girl in his class he didn't have phone number too... Do she even have a phone? He never noticed her taking any phone out in school.

Wonder if her friend knew about the notebook too.

He decided to approach Shina after the class. Casually, seemingly just to ask about studying. They were on civil terms after all, unfortunately, since Shina had a boyfriend already, he couldn't make her infatuated in him for the sake of easier manipulation, but they talked sometimes. Nothing out of ordinary.

"I was also wondering" He slipped the thought into discussion which was primarily about applying to university

"what's up with Kikutchi-san showing off the weird notebook like that? That's quite unusual... she isn't turning goth, is she?"

Shina swore in her mind. C'mon, act naturally... and cluelessly... – she repeated in her thoughts.

"I don't know. She found it sometime ago and didn't even let me to look into it... I suppose she's just doodling in random places, if she went to such lengths to be able to carry it with her." Girl shrugged.

"Doodling?" Light appeared weirded off.

"Yeah. Did you know, she never take notes until I tell her to take them for me? And somehow she remembers all this stuff." Light shrugged this information off. Looks like he worried needlessly. Shina didn't look like she knew anything. They conversed for a while, and once they reached the school's front gate, they parted ways.

And once Shina disappeared from his sight, he started to look around. Oh... there she was.

Tash was walking in tortoise's tempo down the nearby pavement, which led to the school ground's park. A park that nobody ever visited when it wasn't 14'th february.

 _She is so asking for it. –_ He thought.

But he was going to take this on peacefully, at least until he knows. Is she an enemy, or an ally.

He followed her into the park.

 **A/N: I don't know if I didn't go a little overboard with the shinigami introduction, length-wise... I feel like I did...**

 **Aside of that, please review! Let me know what you think of the story!**


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